


never knew i was a dancer

by girlsonthetv



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: "I think you're hot let's date because war is hell", Class Changes, F/F, Reina is traumatized
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 10:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10534374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsonthetv/pseuds/girlsonthetv
Summary: Kamui is a madwoman and it's her fault Reina's life has gone sideways and she's being made to ride wyverns instead of kinshis. But the silver lining is Kamui's adoptive older sister.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have stanned for Camilla/Reina for so long but never written fic for it...until now. 
> 
> enjoy

It had been a week since Kamui had come up to Reina with a ridiculous smile on their face and a stupidly large axe in her hand and told her that she would make an excellent wyvern rider. Reina fought back the myriad of disbeliving and scornful reactions that were her instinct to statements like that, and simply smiled politely as Kamui had laid out all the plans in place for Reina's class change to go as smoothly as possible. She explained that the former eldest princess of Nohr, Camilla, would be teaching her how to fly a wyvern, as it was different from a kinshi in several important ways. She cast a glance over at the woman in question, sitting at one of the two long tables and laughing with her younger sister, long purple waves cascading down her back as she briefly uncrossed and recrossed a lovely pair of legs, and decided she didn't mind that part so much. 

Instead of sitting on top of her wyvern and flying a few laps around the camp as a warm up, Reina was sitting in the grass and steadfastly ignoring the wyvern nudging her back. She knew she looked like a stubborn child, and she didn't particularly care. Axes were easy enough to master. But she was not getting on top of a wyvern. It was wyverns who killed her kin. It was wyverns who were her sworn enemies' chosen mounts. She would rather die. When Camilla arrived to teach her the nuances of riding an enormous maneating dragon, she was going to calmly and politely explain that she was not going to do that, now, or ever.

It had been a week since Reina had humored them, and she was contemplating regicide now. Was it regicide if the royal was no longer a royal? Both Nohr and Hoshido had disowned them. Reina snorted. It was her own fault for pledging her service to a cause so completely lost as this one. No kingdom behind them, so they had to pay for equipment and food completely out of pocket. But no, there was a kingdom! Except the ruler of that kingdom was evil, and Kamui and their weird songstress companion couldn't say anything about it, including its name, or they would disintegrate. Well, Reina wouldn't entirely mind if they did disintegrate. Stupid teenager trying to change the world based on some horseshit a stranger told them. 

And yet she would still follow Kamui into whatever death trap of a plan they cooked up. Because Saizo said so, and her comrades were all she had left, the joy of war the only thing sustaining her. The only other thing propelling her forward through her period of existence had been Mikoto, and Mikoto was dead. Her brain helpfully reminded her that Mikoto wouldn't be dead if she had been with her instead of nibbling a skewer at a food stall with Orochi, but Mikoto herself had insisted they take the day off. Enjoy the festival. She hadn't even given Reina a kiss before she left, because Orochi was there. 

Grief clogged her throat and made her eyes wet, and Reina stubbornly swallowed hard and swiped at her eyes. There was no use dwelling on the past. A good soldier followed the orders they were given, no matter who gave them. She was a good soldier. So she was going to ride this wyvern. It wasn't like she had anything better to attempt to do.

She took a deep, steadying breath, stood up slowly, and turned to face the adolescent wyvern tilting its head curiously at her. They had found the poor creature squalling in the wreckage of a Nohrian stable, and Camilla had managed to coax the creature into coming with them. Reina had named it Hyacinth, in order to maybe make it seem less threatening. The creature suddenly straightened up and eyed her threateningly as she stood up, staring it directly in the eye. Hyacinth snorted and stared right back at her.

Reina's heartbeat quickened and she wondered if she would get in trouble if she had to kill this monster. Though it didn't seem to have any intention of hurting her - it merely backed up, retaining its haughty look. 

She remembered this behavior from a book Camilla had made her read. She had merely flicked through it, mostly focusing on the song Camilla was humming across from her, but she remembered that wyverns were like kinshi in that they needed to be treated with respect before allowing anyone to ride them. 

She did what she had done when she first met her original mount, and bowed deeply. "My name is Reina." She said slowly, fighting to keep her voice steady. "I need to ride you, in order - in order to fight for my cause." The words sounded hollow, so hollow, but she pressed forward. "Will you let me?" 

The wyvern chirped softly after a moment, and Reina took it as a cue to straighten up. She looked into the beast's eyes and saw genuine happiness. She realized that this was probably the first time a human being had ever shown it genuine respect, and her heart melted a bit against her will. 

She dared to reach out and brush her fingers against the wyvern's rough cheek. "You have purple tones in your scales." She murmured. It wasn't as hard to keep her voice steady. "Can I call you Hyacinth?" 

Hyacinth chirped again, and Reina chose to interpret that as a yes. She climbed on Hyacinth's back and adjusted herself in the saddle. Adolescent wyverns were slender compared to bulky adults, and Reina was struck by the similarity to a kinshi again. She glanced up and saw Camilla waiting in the shadows and startled.

Hyacinth whined and shifted, feeling Reina's sudden change in position. Ah, hell. "Shhhh, shhh, it's okay. Nothing to worry about." She glanced up at Camilla again, looking obnoxiously pretty in the drab ninja garb. Camilla had taken to her class change incredibly well, having obviously employed silent walking techniques, and Reina felt smug as Camilla looked at her on top of her wyvern with a look of wonder. 

"C'mon, Hyacinth!" She said loudly with new vigor. "Let's fly!" 

Hyacinth took a short running start and they were in the air, and Reina could mentally check out and let instincts take over. Hyacinth was slower than her kinshi, but steadier as well, an ideal mount for axe users, Reina realized, so as to maximize chances of hitting the enemy. 

She realized she was flying a wyvern like a Nohrian, and she laughed hysterically. She felt mildly sick. But she persevered, and she flew a few extra laps, because she didn't deserve to check out early. 

She touched down gracefully enough, if she said so herself, and bowed exaggeratedly to Camilla's applause. Her heart ached with how fast it was pumping between the wyvern flight and Camilla's soft, indulgent giggles. God, she was beautiful. Life was beautiful. Hyacinth wasn't too awful-looking. 

"That was great!" Camilla said, pride in her trainee evident in her voice. "I was ready to step in if something went wrong, but you did very well."

"I expect no less of myself." Reina said, stroking Hyacinth's neck to purrs. Reina was quickly learning that Hyacinth was like a very large, winged cat. Another way she was like a kinshi. "She's so much like my old mount, it was more fun than I expected."

Camilla's smile faded a bit. "See, that's why I didn't just give you Marzia." She explained. "I initially agreed to this whole plan of Kamui's because I thought this little one-" She gestured to Hyacinth. "-this pure soul, for lack of a better word, would be good for you." 

"Good for me?" Reina smirked. "I don't need your charity, princess." 

"No, no! That's not what I meant, no no no." Camilla was adorable flustered, Reina thought fondly as Camilla continued. "I just - I couldn't help but notice you, being the striking individual you are, and I realized that you don't really talk to people, you don't linger on things, you just sort of - move through the days. I can't imagine how difficult Mikoto's death would be - how difficult it is - for you and Orochi. So I thought that it would be easier for you to bond with a beast with a similar trauma to you, and I thought you would be happier." Camilla's voice was steady by the time she had stopped talking, and Reina was staring down at her hands, clutching the reins. 

"Can I tell you a secret?" Camilla asked softly.

"Shoot."

"I was drawn to you from the minute I laid eyes on you." Camilla breathed her confession into the air, turned her face upward so Reina could see her expression, almost shy, definitely vulnerable. "And it was a mistake watching you fly, because I'm only more drawn." 

Reina was still as a statue as she processed what Camilla meant, long enough that Camilla stiffened up.

Reina vaulted off of Hyacinth with a practiced movement, took precisely ten quick steps forward, brought a hand beneath Camilla's chin, and kissed her gentle on the lips. 

"You aren't too bad a flyer yourself." Reina whispered as Camilla stood shocked. "Maybe we can sneak off some time, bring snacks, and you can share some tips with me?" 

Camilla giggled softly after a tense minute, and they both relaxed. "I would love that. Maybe you can take me for a flight on - Hyacinth? I miss it already."

"Maybe we can see a show together, we're supposed to cross through Cyrkensia."

"Maybe we can."

"We definitely can."


End file.
